Structural evolution with temperature across the TN and high-temperature structural transition in rare-earth ferrites

The main objective of this proposal is to study the structural evolution of rare-earth ferrites RFeO3 (R = La, Pr, Dy) from 300 K to ~1373 K. We will study their behaviour across the magnetic transition to observe possible magnetoelastic effects and also fully characterise the orthorhombic to rhombohedral structural transition that occurs at high temperature (~1000°C), which has never been analysed by high-resolution powder diffraction to date. This transition has not yet been reported for PrFeO3 and DyFeO3, but is expected to occur for temperatures above 1000°C, as with the other perovskites of the ABO3 family.